LANL gets OK to design waste facility

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Los Alamos National Laboratory has obtained federal approval to begin design of a new transuranic waste staging facility.

The approval came Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The new facility would replace several buildings and fabric domes at the laboratory's Technical Area 54, which must be closed and remediated by 2015 under a state consent order.

Lab officials say the new facility will be safer for workers and the public.

The four-acre complex will serve as a staging area for low-level nuclear waste destined for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Waste shipped to WIPP includes items such as contaminated gloves, clothing and lab equipment.